Just days after the abrupt resignation of San Francisco
Pride CEO Earl Plante, several candidates hoping to win seats on the board that
oversees the annual parade and festival met in the Castro to discuss their
visions for the organization.

Nearly 50 people attended the Monday, September 9 candidate
forum at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco. The six candidates who
participated pledged change and better governance for the beleaguered San Francisco
LGBT Pride Celebration Committee board, which has come under sharp criticism
over the way it rescinded a grand marshal honor for convicted WikiLeaks leaker
Army private Chelsea Manning.

Pride members who are eligible to vote will elect board
members at the committee's annual general meeting Sunday, September 15.

As reported on the Bay Area Reporter
's blog Friday, September 6, Plante was forced out by
the board last week.

A letter from the directors said that the board and Plante
"reached a mutual agreement" for Plante to resign. His resignation was
effective immediately.

Pride board President Lisa Williams has taken a leave from
the board and is serving as interim CEO. Davace Chin is now board chair.

Plante's departure came after news broke last week that he
had sent a threatening email to a Castro man seeking a position on the board.

In his own 900-word September 6 letter to the "SF Pride
Community," which the B.A.R.
received Sunday, September 8, Plante said his decision to resign was based largely
on the "racist politics of personal destruction" and
"unrelenting public vilification" "over the past four
months" due to "the erroneous nomination and selection of Chelsea
(Bradley) Manning as a Pride parade grand marshal."

While he acknowledged in the email the Manning matter "could
have been handled better," he did not take responsibility for the
continuing controversy.

"Sadly, attempts by SF Pride to hear the complaints of
dissatisfied community members [over the Manning issue] were and continue to be
met with alarmingly violent behavior, including physical and verbal assault
visited upon staff and Board members," Plante wrote.

No one has been cited, arrested, or charged with any
wrongdoing in relation to what Plante claims was a physical assault on him during
a chaotic May board meeting.

Candidate forum

Monday's forum was sponsored by San Francisco Pride Members
for Democracy, Accountability, and Transparency. According to former Pride
board president Joey Cain, who is a current candidate for the board, the group
formed in July to "work to assure the board of directors will be
accountable to the members" and that "the board will govern in
accordance with its bylaws, policies, and procedures."

The six candidates who attended were Cain, John Caldera,
Kevin Bard, Jose Cital, Jesse Oliver Sanford, and Gary Virginia. Five
incumbents seeking to return to the board: Pam Grey, Kirk Linn-Degrassi, Shaun
Haines, Justin Taylor and Javarre Cordero Wilson did not attend the two-hour
forum, which was moderated by radio personality Michelle Sinhbandith, better
known as Michelle Meow.

Most of the candidates – with the exception of Cital,
who at 21 is the youngest – said they had long experience with San Francisco
Pride and were motivated to seek board positions due to what they saw as
management, operational, and governance problems of the current board and
leadership over the past year. The candidates agreed board members needed
training to understand their responsibilities and obligations to members.

Bard, 35 and the only African American among the candidates
present, said one of his top priorities would be to "clean up the
bylaws." He said he would work to "rebuild member trust lost over the
past year."

Bard, who has a master's degree in political science, said
SF Pride needed a "crisp, clear set of bylaws accessible to all members to
avoid another Chelsea Manning fiasco."

Bard argued for a "conscientious objector grand
marshal" and said there is "a distinct possibility" with him on
the board that Manning, now serving a 35-year prison sentence, would be named
grand marshal for Pride 2014.

Web and mobile app developer Sanford, 35, the candidate who
received the threatening email from Plante, bemoaned the corporatization of
Pride and said the organization needed "alternatives to corporate sponsors."
He suggested Silicon Valley fundraising as a way SF Pride could pay its bills.

Longtime activist and organizer Virginia, 53, said Pride had
become "monotonous" and suggested new activities including fireworks,
an LGBTQ arts and crafts area at the festival, and high school bands and
Burning Man cars could bring more excitement to the annual parade.

Gay Navy veteran Caldera, 49, suggested monthly tea parties
as a way for SF Pride to have open communication with members. He argued for an
end to the "gag order" so board members could speak more openly with
members.

Cain, who for months has lambasted the Pride board for
failing to follow its procedures, reiterated that when Sinhbandith asked him
how SF Pride could avoid another Manning controversy.

"Follow the goddamn policies and procedures," he
said.

Cital, a gay student activist at City College of San
Francisco, said "space for the differently-abled" and LGBTQ elders
fearful of hostile drunks could improve safety at Pride and increase community
participation.

During time allotted for member questions, SF Pride member and
contractor Audrey Joseph asked the candidates to define governance. Each of the
candidates responded, but afterwards Joseph said that in her mind, "only
three answered, Cain, Virginia, and Sanford."

Sanford said governance required implementing best
practices, openness, and accessibility of policies and procedures and
communication with members.

Cain, echoing an earlier response, said governance was
applying best practices, abiding by bylaws, policies, and procedures, and
listening to the concerns of community members. He stressed SF Pride governing
documents should be accessible online.

Virginia said good governance required compliance with
federal, state, and city laws and SF Pride's bylaws, policies and procedures.
He added SF Pride was a service organization and it should be cognizant of that
in all of its decisions.

After the forum, Sanford, who, according to his candidate
statement, has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, said Plante had not apologized for
sending the threatening email.

"I don't expect an apology from him," Sanford
said.

Of the CEO's resignation, Sanford said he "wasn't happy
about it, but it was a necessary first step for reform at SF Pride."